“I work very hard and they don’t appreciate that.”

So in fact the only thing you can judge in this sport its the longterm. You can judge a career or a season, but not one race.

When I test I never go right to the limit. Only because when you are below the limit you can go at the same speed all day, and that’s the only way you can be absolutely sure about what you are testing.

Do you know, why I really love my helmet that much? Because it makes me 15 centimetres taller!

So I know at the beginning of the race, from all that I have analysed during the practice, whether I will win the race or not.

Sometimes it also helps you to understand the mentality of the people in the team a bit better.

I like the mentality of the Americans. It’s like when you talk about money.

I have always had this mentality because I hated to break anything on the car.

I think maybe the English don’t want to try something and look stupid, because they are a bit reserved.

That is an important part of my success. Another big part of my success is that I hated not to finish a race.

I always work the same way, starting from the beginning of the weekend.

Maybe I am not French, maybe I am from nowhere.

In 1980 I finished three or four times in seventh place.

When I drove for British teams… they called me The Tadpole because I was too small to be a frog.

In 1980 I finished three or four times in seventh place. I pushed like mad, yet everyone was gathered around the winner and they were thinking that I was just trundling around. But that’s motor racing.

One of my biggest problems this season was with the clutch at the start of the race. I hate to risk the car.

When you win a race like this the feeling is very, very good. There have been times when I have been flat-out to finish sixth, but you can’t see that from the outside.

Regardless of your age or current physical condition you’ll laugh, cry, moan, groan, sweat and experience the most exciting, hard working and effective therapeutic yoga routine in the world.

Being thick isn’t an affliction if you’re a footballer, because your brains need to be in your feet. And Beckham works hard, he’s brave and he crosses a ball superbly. He treats a football like he does a wife, lovingly, with caresses.

I’m not good at watching myself which I think is perfectly natural. I don’t give myself a hard time about it. I am the worst critic.

Work hard. Believe in yourself. It’s not the publicity that sells the clothes, it’s the woman.

It’s surprising how hard we’ll work when the work is done just for ourselves.

How’s the game changed in my 15 years in the league? Well, we used to be called hard-working players. Now we’re overpaid crybabies.

No matter where you want to go, as long as you follow your path with faith, dedication and hard work, you are going to get there.

I have a hard time with historians because they idolize the truth. The truth is not uplifting; it destroys. I could tell most of the secretaries in the church office building that they are ugly and fat. That would be the truth, but it would hurt and destroy them.